<p>Gunmen opened fire on a convoy of buses carrying minority Muslim voters in northwest Sri Lanka on Saturday, hours before polling in presidential elections got under way, police said.</p>.<p>There were no immediate reports of casualties, but a police official said the attackers had burnt tyres on the road and set up makeshift road blocks to ambush the convoy of more than 100 vehicles.</p>.<p>"The gunmen opened fire and also pelted stones," a police official in Tantirimale, 240 kilometres (150 miles) north of Colombo said. "At least two buses were hit, but we have no reports of casualties."</p>.<p>Muslims from the coastal town of Puttalam were travelling to the neighbouring district of Mannar, where they were registered to vote, the police official said.</p>.<p>Police reinforcements rushed to the area and cleared the obstructions on the road and escorted the convoy so that passengers could cast their ballots.</p>.<p>The incident came as police and troops were locked in a tense standoff in the Tamil-dominated northern peninsula of Jaffna where residents complained of military road blocks ahead of voting.</p>.<p>Police reported to the independent Election Commission that the army was illegally manning roadblocks that could discourage residents from freely travelling to polling booths on Saturday.</p>.<p>"After bringing to the notice of the army that the road blocks were illegal at a time of a national election, they have dismantled them," police said in a statement.</p>.<p>Police sources said they had also warned local military commanders that any disruption to the election would be reported to courts and offenders prosecuted.</p>.<p>Sri Lanka's minority Tamils and Muslims are seen as crucial to deciding a winner in a close contest between the two front runners -- housing minister Sajith Premadasa and the opposition's Gotabaya Rajapaksa.</p>.<p>Local media reports have feared that a strong military presence in Jaffna, the heartland of the island's Tamil minority, could influence voter turnout and favour Rajapaksa, a former defence ministry chief and brother of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.</p>
<p>Gunmen opened fire on a convoy of buses carrying minority Muslim voters in northwest Sri Lanka on Saturday, hours before polling in presidential elections got under way, police said.</p>.<p>There were no immediate reports of casualties, but a police official said the attackers had burnt tyres on the road and set up makeshift road blocks to ambush the convoy of more than 100 vehicles.</p>.<p>"The gunmen opened fire and also pelted stones," a police official in Tantirimale, 240 kilometres (150 miles) north of Colombo said. "At least two buses were hit, but we have no reports of casualties."</p>.<p>Muslims from the coastal town of Puttalam were travelling to the neighbouring district of Mannar, where they were registered to vote, the police official said.</p>.<p>Police reinforcements rushed to the area and cleared the obstructions on the road and escorted the convoy so that passengers could cast their ballots.</p>.<p>The incident came as police and troops were locked in a tense standoff in the Tamil-dominated northern peninsula of Jaffna where residents complained of military road blocks ahead of voting.</p>.<p>Police reported to the independent Election Commission that the army was illegally manning roadblocks that could discourage residents from freely travelling to polling booths on Saturday.</p>.<p>"After bringing to the notice of the army that the road blocks were illegal at a time of a national election, they have dismantled them," police said in a statement.</p>.<p>Police sources said they had also warned local military commanders that any disruption to the election would be reported to courts and offenders prosecuted.</p>.<p>Sri Lanka's minority Tamils and Muslims are seen as crucial to deciding a winner in a close contest between the two front runners -- housing minister Sajith Premadasa and the opposition's Gotabaya Rajapaksa.</p>.<p>Local media reports have feared that a strong military presence in Jaffna, the heartland of the island's Tamil minority, could influence voter turnout and favour Rajapaksa, a former defence ministry chief and brother of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.</p>